The Odyssey

 

The Odyssey

I did not go to see The Odyssey expecting to love it. I find Nolan's cinema to be cold and bloodless, so not exactly a good fit for The Odyssey, but I felt I should see it nonetheless, and my daughter wanted to as well. In the end, our verdicts were similar: not a catastrophy, but not a very good movie either and particularly not a convincing interpretation of the myth. The character of Odysseus is largely sanitized, his dark shrewdness, philandering and frequent treachery wiped away in case we didn't realise that Damon was playing a hero. The gods are also wiped out, Athena more likely a figment of Odysseus' guilt. What remains is a mostly heartless succession of perils and quests, Odysseus and his men falling from one into the other. The only character (and actor) to really rise above the fray in my opinion is Eurylochus (Himesh Patel) who manages to convey emotion despite the glacial script. All in all, not a good movie and certainly not one I'd want to see again. But it got us talking about mythology and the power of myth, and that was a great conversation to have with my daughter.